Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to cementitious blend and concrete mix compositions resistant to high temperatures and alkaline conditions, particularly for making durable concrete for constructing an alumina digester tank resistant to a hot caustic soda solution.
Description of the Related Art
The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, is neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
In North American practice, high strength concrete is usually considered to be concrete with a 28-day compressive strength of at least 42 MPa. Compared with conventional concrete, high strength concrete is more durable because of reduced porosity, inhomogeneniety, and microcracks.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide cementitious blend and concrete mix compositions for making high strength, durable concrete resistant to high temperatures and alkaline conditions that is, for example, suited for constructing an alumina digester tank in an aluminum smelter. Preferred embodiments of the cementitious blend and concrete mix compositions use both hydraulic cements and supplementary cementitious materials, such as silica fume (SF), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), and naturual pozzolan (NP). Since most of the supplementary cementitious materials are industrial by-products, the use of the supplementary cementitious materials in the inventive compositions helps reduce the amount of hydraulic cements required to make the resultant concrete less costly, more environmentally friendly, and less energy intensive.